Sports

[Polish Hill]

Curious as to why there aren't more cricket games.  Might be over simplifying it but are there also any solid rugby games?  I suppose its possible without the American market profitability is that much more difficult but I could be entirely off point there.

 

Having never played cricket or a cricket game I would think it could do something similar to most baseball games.  One analog stick for swinging and the other for aiming.  I would assume that would handle batting which should be the most difficult aspect.  I'm sure more nuance would be ideal but I wonder if that would account for most swings or if it wouldn't satisfy the average player. 

[Ucantalas]

I remember there were some EA Sports Rugby games, but I haven't seen any lately. I don't know if they still make them, or if it was something they tried for a bit and dropped.

[Don Rosco]

Problem with both sports is your market is pretty small. Basically the white parts of the British Empire along with France for Rugby. If and when consoles hit India in a big way, there might be some point in putting a lot of money into a cricket game. There is plenty of cheap ones on IOS (and probably android?) though, and the same dev that makes the Don Bradman game on PS3 and 360 made some Rugby League games up to last year. No idea if they were any use.

[Ucantalas]

And the L.A Kings win the Stanley Cup!

[undermind9]

they played great hockey this playoffs...just ya know, would have liked my team to play better

[Apelsin]

Same here

 

Can't be too mad at the Kings winning when they're playing as well as they are, but it is shame the Sharks couldn't take advantage of the 3-0 series lead they had.

[Merus]

Oh there was cricket talk in here. From what I understand, there's a big money problem; you'd basically need either a British or Australian team to make a good cricket game, and neither has the money without America.

 

Anyway, I was all ready to not care about the World Cup but then Australia had to go and play like they deserved to be there. No wins, unfortunately, but we gave Chile and the Netherlands a good scare, Tim Cahill scored a cracker of a goal to put him in the history books, and Spain is apparently garbage enough that we might even go home with some points. More importantly, it's the first time for a while that we've seen the Australian team play soccer like Australians, instead of the sad waste of time Pim Verbeek had them playing. Let's hope we see that form outside of the World Cup.

[RubixsQube]

Tim Cahill's goal yesterday was marvelous, and it was a pity that they played so well but weren't able to defeat the mighty onslaught that is the Netherlands this year. I've been really happy with this Cup, especially after the referees kind of settled down after making a series of important early goofs.

[Polish Hill]

Really have been enjoying the World Cup and nearly all the games I've seen.  Made it out to Columbus for a qualifier against Mexico and it was an incredible time, can't begin to imagine the atmosphere down there.  And even though I enjoy watching the Dutch, Australia really deserved at least a draw from that game.

 

Interestingly enough after some of our cricket discussion,  Don Bradman’s Cricket 14 is apparently a thing.  Don't know how good it is but it isn't a tire fire so that's something.

[Professor Video Games]

It's amazing how poorly Spain played in their game against Chile. If they keep playing like that I'd say Australia has a good chance of ending up with the win. Before this started who would have thought there was even a remote chance Spain would leave the World Cup winless?

[Codicier]

Considering how much amazing football i've watched the past few weeks its strange to think its no long now till the whole thing draws to a close.

Its made me miss the days in my youth when live football was regulary on the BBC and not restricted to paid channels like Sky.

[Justin Leego]

In the interest of sporting contest, it'd be nice if this became something other than a spectator reaction GIF fest.

 

I mean, in the time it took me to find the Sports thread and post a comment, the German side took its tally from 4 to 5 against Brazil's 0. It's not even 30 minutes gone in the first half.

 

I... I don't feel all that good about see this nation's football team, and by loose extension the nation itself, get humiliated in this manner, even if they have been playing poorly enough this game (and cynically enough in previous matches) to deserve it. Though from the jeers rising from the neighbourhood's windows, there are plenty who do!

[Ucantalas]

Seriously, 5-0 is a bit embarrassing at that high-level play in a sport usually known for having very low scoring games. I kind of feel bad for Brazil.

...on the other hand a good portion of my family is from Germany, so from that perspective... Yeah! Go Germany!

[TheLastBaron]

I don't feel bad for Brazil because if it weren't for the Fred dive/PK they literally would not have made it out of group stages, so they should be happy just to have been in the semis.

[Professor Video Games]

I've never seen a team so thoroughly obliterated. In a World Cup semifinal no less! TheLastBaron is right though. They were lucky to make it out of the group stage and failed to impress the whole way through. That game against Columbia was straight up awful. But even still I would never predict a route like that.

[TheLastBaron]

I feel it's a bit of a shame for Germany because the focus is all on Brazil playing bad and not how absolutely amazing Germany played. They were playing out of their minds.

[Nappi]

That game was bizarre and amazing. 

 

I actually very nearly caught the game in a Brazilian restaurant in Ljubljana where some 30 minutes before the game a group of German fans barged in and said something along the lines "Oh god, this is a Brazilian restaurant!" before deciding to stay and watch the match. Both sides were jokey about the situation and seemed to get along very well, but I'm still glad that we decided to watch the game elsewhere*, because I can't imagine the atmosphere being anything but awkward after a massacre like that.

 

* After (but not too soon after) the owner had given us green and yellow shiny fedoras.

[Badfinger]

In the interest of sporting contest, it'd be nice if this became something other than a spectator reaction GIF fest.

 

I mean, in the time it took me to find the Sports thread and post a comment, the German side took its tally from 4 to 5 against Brazil's 0. It's not even 30 minutes gone in the first half.

 

I... I don't feel all that good about see this nation's football team, and by loose extension the nation itself, get humiliated in this manner, even if they have been playing poorly enough this game (and cynically enough in previous matches) to deserve it. Though from the jeers rising from the neighbourhood's windows, there are plenty who do!

 

Go Germany, Boo Brazil.

 

 

Go Netherlands!

[sclpls]

I feel it's a bit of a shame for Germany because the focus is all on Brazil playing bad and not how absolutely amazing Germany played. They were playing out of their minds.

 

I feel like this is not uncommon. An amazing team will make another team that is merely good look mediocre or worse. Same thing happened when Spain played Germany in 2010, and lots of people said Germany just played bad even though as far as I can tell they were playing in a similar style to their previous games where they were lauded.

[Codicier]

 

I saw this on twitter and thought it basically perfectly summed up BRAvsGER (& this coming from a notorious Rugby hard man), those initial couple of goals in particular were absolutely stone cold assassin type strikes. 

 

Anyone looking at the shape of that Brazilian team with even the tiniest bit of tactical knowledge couldn't but help think this was basically kamikaze football, but perhaps even that doesn't do it justice. A kamikaze pilot knew what they were doing, Brazil's wing backs seemed utterly clueless to the the way their desire to get forward and engineer something was leaving their side criminally undermanned.

[Codicier]

So as the World Cup draws to a close I'm thinking again what a truly wonderful thing it is when a event is truly global/universal.

Most of the time in the UK domestic football is stuck behind a great big paywall (IDK if it's the same in the US or not) so it's been amazing once again having a event where if you want to watch you can.

[TheLastBaron]

For the domestic league here, MLS, it's actually pretty hard to watch since it's not big enough that they play it on ESPN, but every local game I get over the air which is nice as I no longer have cable. Speaking of which, not having cable has been pretty rough in terms of watching the world cup. The finals have all been on ABC (meaning I get them over the air), but I think every USA game I had to watch at a bar or someone else's house.

[Ucantalas]

http://www.si.com/nhl/2014/08/26/report-toronto-seattle-quebec-city-join-vegas-2017-nhl-expansion

Breaking news: Rumour has it Toronto is finally getting a hockey team.

 

(In more serious, actual news, this is the first I've heard of the expansion. Seems cool. I don't really have anything to add, I mostly wanted to make a Maple Leafs joke. )

[Bjorn]

NHL is now denying that the rumor had any validity to it.  I'd be bummed if it were true, Kansas City has been trying to sell itself as a great place for an expansion team for years and I'd much rather have a hockey team than basketball team if we're going to add another sport to the town.

[TheLastBaron]

NHL is now denying that the rumor had any validity to it.  I'd be bummed if it were true, Kansas City has been trying to sell itself as a great place for an expansion team for years and I'd much rather have a hockey team than basketball team if we're going to add another sport to the town.

Now I feel like a jerk for being mad that the MLB aren't letting the A's move to San Jose (I don't even like the A's).